It’s hard to imagine walking away from $650,000, but that’s what Dr. Omar Atiq did.
Atiq and his wife, Mehreen, were honored Monday at the Pine Bluff City Council meeting, where Mayor Shirley Washington presented the two with a beautiful plaque.
In December, Atiq, who operated the Arkansas Cancer Clinic but closed it due to staffing shortages, sent out notices to 200 patients saying their debts owed to him would be forgiven. Atiq said he understood fully that even though insurance companies pay hefty sums, they leave much behind for individuals to pay. Such bills were particularly onerous during a pandemic when jobs and money are in short supply. And for that reason, he was wiping the slate clean.
“We were just blessed with an opportunity,” he said during the council meeting. “We don’t give anything that has not been given to us.”
Blessed with an opportunity. That is quite a humble way of looking at what Dr. and Mrs. Atiq did, but that seems to be the kind of people they are.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
And this was not the first time, the two have shown generosity. They recently donated $50,000 to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to create a scholarship for first-generation students who want to study medicine.
The good doctor said he wanted to provide a path for other students to enter medicine, in the same way that his own children have been blessed, pointing out that his three sons are doctors and his daughter is in medical school.
Yes, rather an amazing story, and one that has been well-traveled, both in the state with news coverage as well as nationally.
Atiq lives in Little Rock now where he is a professor at UAMS, but he said Pine Bluff will always be near and dear to him and his family.
“It’s really God’s blessing,” he said. “Pine Bluff will always be home. Our children were born here. Our parents are buried here. This is home.”
The feeling was mutual.
“This has shown that Dr. Atiq cares deeply about southeast Arkansas and the people he has served,” Washington said . “The people of Pine Bluff are inspired by your generosity and forever grateful for the lives you have saved and for the many lives you have touched.”
Inspired. In awe. Thankful. A lot of words come to mind to describe the reaction to what this couple has done. And while few people can give back to the world in the same way that they have, as we think about what the act of giving means, we could do no better than to let the Atiqs’ actions guide us.